Sandy shakes up campaign calendar

Hurricane Sandy has cut in half the final stretch of the presidential race, leaving both the Obama and Romney campaigns uncertain as to when it’s possible to resume a full political schedule with a week to go until Election Day.

A senior Romney official estimated that there are now just five real days of campaigning left, starting Thursday. Strategists on both sides expressed optimism that most parts of the campaign would return to normal by Wednesday, but that doesn’t necessarily include nakedly partisan activity by the candidates.

President Barack Obama’s campaign announced the cancellation of a planned Obama visit to Ohio on Wednesday; instead, he will travel to New Jersey to view storm damage with Republican Gov. Chris Christie. Mitt Romney is scheduled to appear at rallies in Florida on Wednesday, along with former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio. The impact of Sandy will likely influence the tone and coverage of those events.

With national media outlets broadcasting images of flooded New York City streets and a devastated New Jersey shoreline, no candidate wants to risk offending voters by resuming politics as usual too quickly. And voters may or may not be paying attention to political news amid a major national disaster.

Strategists on both sides of the presidential race said the center of gravity will likely move to the Midwest and West in the coming days, safely away from areas affected by the storm. Paul Ryan is currently scheduled to hold campaign events in Wisconsin on Wednesday. The Obama campaign announced two Wisconsin stops for Vice President Joe Biden on Friday, but included the caveat that Biden’s “travel is subject to change due to weather conditions.”

Even swing states within Sandy’s reach may be open for business in most respects: Virginia, New Hampshire and Ohio were not hit as hard as once feared. But there remains an overarching concern on both sides about letting candidates on the stump appear in a split-screen image with areas grappling with storm recovery.

Longtime Republican strategist Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential run, said the candidates have now entered “a very dangerous period for both campaigns, not to look overly political in difficult times.”

“Any forward momentum Romney had has now been halted. And President Obama’s greatest campaign tool, Air Force One, has been grounded for the last two days,” said Reed, who suggested the center of campaign activity would move to the Midwest and West in the final stretch. “Be prepared for nonstop campaigning the last four or five days.”

Democratic strategist Jonathan Prince predicted that the campaign would be “pretty much back to normal” by Thursday, assuming that there’s “media bandwidth” for election coverage at that point.

“The president has to do his job, obviously, but beyond that I don’t believe either side has to completely suspend what they’re doing,” he said. “Everyone knows there’s still a giant presidential election and everybody’s still obsessed with it.”